ICQ Support Removed from Nimbuzz

After being forced to drop support for Skype services effective October 31, Nimbuzz, the all-in-one messaging application, sees itself having to do the same for ICQ.

Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian company that owns the ICQ instant messaging application has asked Nimbuzz to remove support for their protocol starting this week.

Apparently, ICQ wanted Nimbuzz to pay them for every person using the ICQ services on Nimbuzz. That would have forced the application’s developer to pass the costs to its users, which would have been against the principles by which the messaging client is functioning (not charging for any of its services).

“Over the last two weeks we have been chatting with the guys from ICQ about an agreement to continue support for the ICQ community on Nimbuzz. The final offer was to enter a licensing agreement that would see Nimbuzz pay for every person wishing to use ICQ on Nimbuzz,” said the Nimbuzz Team.

More and more messaging and VoIP client services are trying to monetize their businesses, which were previously offered for free and Nimbuzz, as well as other companies with the same business model, will probably lose support for more protocols in the future.

The main problem for Nimbuzz is the fact that it cannot replace the clients it loses over time. The promotions and bonuses the company offers every time support for an instant messaging client is removed won't make up for it.

"We are sorry to let you know that we have officially switched off support of ICQ on Nimbuzz. However, we will continue to offer Nimbuzz and all of our services free of charge to everyone in the world.”

“What that means is that you can continue to use your existing Nimbuzz account to stay connected to your friends, make free calls and chat as much as humanely possible. Stay buzzing, and we hope that our brand new Nimbuzz for Nokia Symbian phones (combined with a little bonus) will make up for some of the disappointment,” added the Nimbuzz Team.